Reheated-coffee-reading.

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I don't ski, I don't drink craft beer and I don't have a dog, but by golly I am a real Colorado native girl. So now you can still believe in unicorns! Here's my ode to motherhood, you know because all of us bloggers write like we were the first, only and last mama out there.

Nov 29 Colorado Ballet Nutcracker Date

Date night happened last Saturday. Definitely blog worthy in my book... We have been able to sneak in an official night out together at least once a month for the past three months, and we need to inch that up to at least twice a month, but for now, we are working at getting that one night in and I'll take it!
Starting to wonder if it's worth it though. We have YET to come home to a quiet house with both girls in bed. This last time we came home to find Remy on top of all the couch cushions which were stacked on top of...their Tete, along with the doll strollers and the giant pack of Charmin and all their toys in the room. They were so wired up and it's not exactly fun to have to come home and work at 10/10:30 at night. We had to bathe them and get them to bed, full stories and battling to get pajamas on. I could barely peel down my sequin dress to get them in the tub, and then I ended up reading to them in my bra and panties... Our kids are HIGHLY active and I am at my rope's end over here guys...but at LEAST we managed to get in some hand holding over the weekend and better yet, see a BALLET and eat a hot meal without having to spoon feed two needy creatures across from us. I make parenting sound grueling at times, it is. Haha!

So date night. Husband and I went to see Colorado Ballet's annual performance of the Nutcracker Saturday night! We went last year as a date too- see that here! A holiday favorite of many, but especially close to MY heart as I used to perform in this very production as a young student at the Colorado Ballet School back in the nineties! I am totally aging myself! I remember every Nutcracker season and that flutter I got driving downtown at night, seeing all the lights in the buildings and being dropped off at that stage door. The excitement of rehearsals and the performances is exhilarating and I am so privileged I got to experience that. There is nothing like being back stage in costume, putting on our makeup, and playing games with friends while we waited for our turn to hit the stage, and I was only a toy soldier! So many amazing memories growing up with ballet.

This night's performance was magical because we caught Maria Mosina, the prima ballerina's performance as Sugar Plum Fairy! She has been with the company for 26 seasons! She was Sugar Plum when I was a girl in fact! She has just announced this will be her final season and she is retiring on top of her career and is heading into teaching. The young students who will be lucky enough to dance at her bar...she has so much more to give the dance world and passing on that knowledge and passion to young dancers is a natural progression of her career. She is INCREDIBLE! We also caught Chandra dancing the Arabian, MY FAVORITE duet, and she was sooooo incredible! She was a student in the academy when I attended! She went on to graduate and become professional and it has been such a neat experience to watch her mature and blossom into this PRINCIPAL dancer for the company. The soloist who performed Dew Drop in the Flower Scene in Second Half was pretty darn amazing too, and her stage prescence- WOW! Bravo! The performances of Colorado Ballet's The Nutcracker run all through December, and they even have a Christmas Eve matinee which would be so fun! Get tickets here.

After the ballet we checked in on the girls with my mother-in-law. His mother is amazing and would never ever clue us in on how terribly out of control our girls were because she only cared about us going out and having a great time. She is so generous and selfless, we thank God for her because she always comes through and helps us in so many ways. I got blessed in the mother-in-law department for sure. So after the call and hearing that they were fine, "fine," we decided to grab a bite to eat on Larimer Square. We walked past the Four Seasons Hotel and their Christmas tree in the lobby literally pulled us in! Others too apparently! There were other gawkers taking photos in front of this spectacle too! I am usually all about the colored lights and pish posh assortment of collected heirloom and sentimental ornaments for my own tree, but MAN, I LOVED their color coordinated, glitzy gold and bronze tree too! Well done Four Seasons!

Husband isn't about all the pomp and circumstance and frilly food, so I knew Tom's Urban Diner would be perfect! I had ate there once before, when i went to school downtown. I remember I sat at the bar and had tortilla soup because I was so nauseous! I was pregnant at the time with Remy, and in my final semester and in finals mode at the time. It was freezing outside, and the soup was great by the way! I knew their portions would be satisfying and it would still be convenient, within walking distance from the theater, and not too pricey for Larimer Square. Oh and FUN atmosphere! There wasn't a wait at all and we got a perfect booth right by the windows along 15th street and near a big screen television so he could catch a glimpse of the CU football game. Hey, he sat through a ballet, guys and endured all my photo taking! Actually, I think he is coming to actually like the ballet! He shared later that night that his favorite scene was when the snow fell and Clara and the Nutcracker Prince were headed to the magical land of sweets, the Snow Scene at the end of Act I! How sweet is that?!

Before dinner we popped into Goorin hats on Larimer Square to try on a couple! I LOVE hats! All of mine are thrifted, but I would really like to have a nice new one. I was leaning towards a teal fedora they had! After dinner, we contemplated, BRIEFLY, about going somewhere for dessert, but we were both so stuffed! Look at that burger I had down there! HUGE! I had the truffle burger- so GOOD! So we headed back to the car. We cut through this little area in Larimer Square by Bistro Vendome, one of my favorite little nooks in Denver.... maybe we'll go there next time! Just before hitting the parking garage, we stumbled on a live performance by a local jazz quartet called Brass Brothers. They were SO good and had a HUGE crowd totally engaged and the energy was fantastic! People were dancing- DANCING- and groups of people were lined up along the balconies on the parking structure. You can see a little video clip on my Instagram account. It was pretty great...I love it when fun, random stuff like that happens, it was the perfect top off to the evening.

Some of the photos are blurred, but I love them anyway- it is incredibly hard to photograph at night, and then add lights and then add a new lens and a very inexperienced photographer, ME, and this is what we ended up with, but I love them anyway. Husband snapped the photos of me and he did AWESOME- thanks babe! And thanks to the sweet couple in front of us before we entered the theater who snapped one of us! They were on a date too, and they said, "finally," and we started talking kids, turns out they had FOUR! FOUR! Ages 7, 4, 3 and 1.... I about died... How do people do it?! I can barely handle my two girls! Does she have four or three or even two as crazy as mine?! IS she incredibly patient and mellow and relaxed? Maybe a Saint even?! I wonder...There's probably more on the topic of how many kiddos completes our family, but another time.

SO, have you ever been to Colorado Ballet's, The Nutcracker? What did you think?! Also, I would love to hear about any restaurants, places you think husband and I should try on a date sometime! Thanks for reading guys!

...Glo

*Thank you to Colorado Ballet for the generous tickets. All words and opinions are my own and were unpaid for.

I am actually wearing a vintage fur I found thrifting, BUT check out this AMAZING piece by Marni if you're in the market... I love the monogram lining on mine and the fact that it is just a cape! My black sequin dress is also vintage and thrifted, but here's a similar version and only $60. I love the longer knee length on mine and the small shoulder pads. I felt comfy and sexy. I actually wore this when I was pregnant once too! (Has some stretch!) My shoes are actually by Jessica Simpson from a few years ago, and I had not worn them in a while and I decided to do a fashion-y thing and do this brandy color instead of opting for a black shoe, but I love how the look came together. Her shoes are actually really well made and comfortable! I have been wanting a pump and also wanting to try out this new mod heel, and she makes one! Aren't these pretty?! Husband's shirt is from Old Navy (similar) and his jacket is from H&M (this velvet jacket is pretty dapper too!) He looks so handsome!!!